THE lions are going on a safari to see humans being evicted.At stake is the culture and lifestyle of a community of tribals,primarily forest-gatherers, rich in the knowledge of traditionalherbs and medicine. For, Madhya Pradesh (MP), the seams ofits kitty already bursting with tigers, is about to acquire newmembers for its tourism department's roll of honour: a prideof lions.
Over 200 lions from Gir forest in Gujarat will displaceover 7,000 tribals, settled around the Pulpur Kuno, sanctuaryin Morena district of MP. Relocation may be a good idea forthe lions. Spreading out the population gives them a kindof protection against local epidemics. Which promptsus to ask the question: Why is it necessary to relocate thevillagers?
It is not surprising that the villagers concerned are nothappy at the idea of having to live with the lions. Officialshave, therefore, decided that when the lions come marchingin, the villagers must troop out. While this sounds unfairbecause the villagers were there before the lions, but as far asthe officials are concerned, they will pay the tribals to leave.
The tribals around the PulpurKuno sanctuary depend upon thelocal environment for their basicneeds like fodder for their cattle,fuel for cooking, material forbuilding a house, or herbs for primary healthcare. Local environments, are also the womb where ahost of traditional sources of livelihood and handicrafts like basketweaving, rope manufacturing fishing develop.
According to official plans, allthis is going to change. The 350-sqkm Kuno sanctuary will becombined with the adjoiningforest to form a 700-sq km nationalpark, pushing out around 7,500Shahariya tribals living in the areaand putting an end to livestockgrazing. The relocation site, a village called Agra on the fringeof the sanctuary, has scanty forest growth. Officials will henceencourage the Shahariyas to practice agriculture. Meanwhile,to increase the food base for the lions, the forest will be stockedwith herbivores ranging from spotted dear, bluebull, sambarand blackbuck. But here lies the weak link in the chain: ifforest officials have not done their homework, then the livesand livestock of the 20,000 villagers of three villages, includingKarahal are at risk, as they fall in the proposed buffer zonearound the sanctuary.
The Shahariya tribals in the region make a living bycollecting and selling medicinal plants and herbs. Whollydependent on the forest and responsible for maintaining it,the tribals will now be cut off from the woods and must nowbuy even wood from the town for meeting their most basicneeds like making a bed.
The government will, of course, work out a compensationpackage for those who are to be dispossessed. Unfortunately,such packages neglect to take into account the loss in terms oftraditional sources of employment and the economic costs ofbeing deprived of access to a particular environment that is asource of daily articles of consumption.
The government of MP has set up a committee comprisingthe forest minister, the women's welfare minister and thetribal welfare minister to oversee the relocation of thetribals and the lions. According to forest minister ShivNetam, the project would be undertaken in three phases.About Rs 64 crore has been sanctioned for the first phase, to becompleted by the year 2000, and about 60 per cent of the fundswill be used to rehabilitate the tribals.
But the officialdom would dowell to study and document theShahariya way of life and theirwealth of knowledge in plantspecies and traditional medicine. Itwould perhaps be the only tributethey can pay to a tribe whose wayof life will vanish if it is relocatedfrom the forest to the farm.
What is happening is not new.In an earlier attempt to protect Girlions, thousands of Maldharis whowere living traditionally in the Girforest were shifted from the areaand may even have been reducedto penury. Will this injustice berepeated in Kuno? The Kuno project began when Kamal Nath wasthe Union minister of state for environment. He probably felt itwould give a tremendous boost to tourism in his home state.
This brings us to the final question: Who is going topay the environmental cost, or should we say the highestcost, for relocating the lions? The prosperous state ofGujarat, which has got rid of its excess lions; the richgovernment of MP anticipating revenue from tourismresulting from the inflow of wildlife enthusiasts into thearea; the government at the Centre; or the Shahariyasfrom Morena: Who is going to be bearded by the bon in hisown den?